


New beginnings

by Anonymous



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Age Difference, Alpha is a frustrated doctor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dictatorship, Dystopia, F/F, F/M, Female Alpha/Male Omega, Femdom, Forced Cohabitation, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Male Pregnancy, Male Submissive, Medical Inaccuracies, Older Woman/Younger Man, Omega Male character, Omega Verse, Omega has been raised in the wilds, On Hiatus, Original Characters - Freeform, Other, Post-Apocalypse, Power Dynamics, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Survivor Guilt, Weird Biology, alpha female character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-11-10 15:40:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20854178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Fourteen years have passed since the Apocalypse started and in a world, where only the strongest survive and weakest perish, 24-year-old Max was an omega  who had yet to settle down, traumatized by the action of his  past.Max thought he could survive another winter but  after a nearby death experience and a broken leg, a surprisingly twist of events turned his whole world upside-down.Now, he will have to adapt to his new reality living in a Military base turned into a Quarantine zone and all the tradition and stigma the conservative population carries around his gender, while figuring a way to escape this totalitarian regime and not die in the process.If only the Alpha taking care of him, a frustrated doctor who has yet to find a way replicate penicillin or find a cure to this post-apocalypse world, wasn’t so…nice.





	1. Max in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> I'll like to state from the beginning that while this work is categorized as an "Original work", I do consider it produced as part of fannish culture, and therefor a transformative work.  
Please read the tags first, thank you for reading and enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this when I finished it, but I’ve come to the realization that I have zero (0) control over my muse.  
Enjoy!  
12/26/2019: minor edits

There were mornings where Max thought what was the point of living. Those type of morning, just like today, were especially hard. But Max knew, that at this stage in his life, one couldn’t afford to think like that.

Since it was one of the things that get you killed.

Surviving the apocalypse meant that one couldn’t do feelings, yet here he was, thinking about his life. At least he knew how to survive. Max had experience in that; fourteen years of running, scavenging, fighting against zombies had taught him one thing or two about surviving in this deprecating world.

At 24 years old (going on 25 in a few more months, mind you), Max was practically a veteran. A somewhat stupid and naïve, but a cunning veteran.

“Come on,” He hissed at the wood he’d gathered the day before. As if by glaring it more would magically start a fire. In his other hand, was bleeding cottontail he’d hunt still twitching, with his best knife incrusted into the animal’s neck. “Why won’t you work,”

Ugh, starting a fire was such a pain, he thought. Judging by the sun, he needed to move fast and the last thing he wanted to do, was to eat his breakfast cold. Especially raw meat. Since the last time he’d been forced to eat that, he’d barfed the next morning.

After what seemed like a lifetime, he finally got to do it. Max sat as close as he dared to feel the radiating warmth, holding out his numbed hands for defrosting. Then he added more wood and poked it with a long stick, before cutting the rabbit’s head and skinning the poor thing.

As his breakfast cooked, he rubbed his hands together to gather some heat. He couldn’t help but groan at the feeling. The heat felt wonderful, during this time. Not too far from the fire, was his backpack, packaged with whatever utensils he’d gathered over the years.

He would have to pack soon, as the day moved on. There were hundreds of kilometers to pass unless he wanted to die to the unforgiving cold. While it still hadn’t gotten to snow, Max knew that it a few more weeks it would hit and then all of his progress would stall.

And Max needed to cross the road if he wanted to survive. The winter in this place was unforgiving. The clothes he wore wouldn’t shield him against the cold nor his hunting utensil would help him catch another animal. Especially since most of them went into hibernation during this time of the year.

The fact that he’d managed to catch one this morning was a miracle.

_ Think positive,  _ he thought after searching in his backpack, his old worn map. It was an old thing, with many towns missing for the overuse, but it still helped to navigate states. A small frown appeared on his face when he finally managed to locate his next location.

It was far.

Very far away.

He chewed his lip, out of habit. It was one of the things his Ma never managed to erase out of him before it all went down.  _ Something about…?  _ He shook his head, clearing the memory away. Now it wasn’t time to focus in the past.

He had a long ride waiting for him.

After eating, he quickly extinguished the fire and went to retrieve his bike. He’d picked the bike four winter ago in an abandoned town, looking for supplies. It was a little rusty thing that perhaps should have been left abandoned too, but the tires still worked.

And personally? That same bike had saved his ass too many times to be left abandoned. He’d never learned to drive or how to wield a gun, as he’d been too young when the apocalypse hit, but bike? That he could do. He’d cycled through states thanks to it.

The day he would be forced to leave it behind, Max was sure he shed some tears. It still amazed him, from time to time, how despite losing everything he still got attached to things. Ever since he lost the last member of his family, his older brother five winters ago, it had only got worse.

Either stolen or taken from abandoned houses, Max was proud to own them. Like his knife, that he’d discovered seven seasons ago when he stumbled upon an ambushed camp or like his bike that he’d stolen from a store nearby Texas.

They were his.

Then there were other things he’d accumulate over the years, partially to satiate the little child he carried within that had been forced to grown-up. Like his seed collection inside three glass jars (filled with different kinds and the brown beans Dad used to love), to remind himself of the job his parents Martha and Luis did as farmers before the outbreak.

And then there were his family’s old clothes that Max simply refused to let go. They were underneath all the utensils, wrapped into a plastic bag he found floating in the river once. His mother’s favorite blouse, his sister’s necklace, dad’s…ring.

Somewhere in the distance, a howl echoed through the forest and he quickly got to his feet. Max felt the hair on his neck stand up. He knew what that meant. A chill went up to his spine, when another howl responded, and so on.

Shit.

He darted his eyes back in the deep and thick forest.

He needed to get out of there, _ fast. _

Back when things used to be normal and humans conquered the land, wild animals weren’t a thought to be concerned with. Door, fences, and weapons could deter even the most apex predator. Now, it was a bonus coexisting with them and not dying in the process, for choosing to live in the wild.

But between the undead and the animals, Max preferred the later. When the epidemic first hit, everyone had been desperate to get out. In a matter of days, cities were infested and evacuated, zombies killing everything in their quest to extinct humans.

As for the rural places, the apocalypse impacted them way later, when survivors from the cities were raiding everything they found. Not too far massive amounts of hordes traveling out of the city followed. At least that had been the case for Max and his family, who once owned a farm of 15 acres, in a rural town.

One morning they woke up with someone banging on the door, only to realize there were zombies all over the place.

Max doesn’t know what happened to the neighbors or all animals they owned, including the three dogs and two cats that used to roam and beg for food.  _ You’re spoiling them _ was what her mother used to say while scolding him when she caught him giving morsels to the animals.

_ Mom _ was always his response, by putting up a serious face that always used to crack her mother up.  _ It’s very important to socialize with my future patients. _

It was hard to think about what-could-have-been. Hard to imagine a future where the dead remained dead and where would have gone to college to study veterinary school and help at the farm. A place where all his family would be waiting for him…

_ Alive. _

Maybe Mary would have finally settled down with her school’s sweetheart. He remembered both of his parents approved of Mary’s suitor and the talk they had with her before the apocalypse had hit, about paying the ceremony if Mary could pursue her education.  _ What was his name again? _ His freckled face tightened in concentration.

_ Jack? _

_ Zac?  _

Another howl echoed through, much closer than Max would have desired. He pushed forward, ignoring how the flat tires squeaked, or how his muscles protested at the harsh treatment. Another mile past that way, as Max traveled through the forest Highway.

The only sound apart the bike was from his heavy breathing, and the occasional howl. Wolves were vicious little things, and if Max wasn’t careful enough, he would be caught. If Max didn’t want to be a wolf dinner, he needed to be faster.

He only hoped his body wouldn’t fail him.

In the end, it wasn’t the wolves that got to him or the cold. It had been his bicycle brake that broke during his marathon and the highway being slippery during a road curve, that had him falling straight into the foliage and into the ground.

It was only two hours later when Max came into the realization that there was something wrong with his leg. Each step brought an agonizing pain to his lower body. His eyes watered as he cut part of his pants to relieve the pressure of his swollen leg.

And he had to bite his mouth to avoid screaming when he tried to rotate his leg by accident. It didn’t look good. It was very swollen and red as if a dozen bees had stung it. It was like Paul, his older brother, all over again. Years ago, when a perfectly good morning had gone astray in a matter of minutes, and Max had been left orphaned.

By the time he managed to pick up the rest of his things, scattered around the floor, he tried to walk up north. He tried to search for an abandoned town, thinking that if he was lucky, he could find bandages to wrap his leg. But as he walked he couldn’t help but wonder if anyone in his family had fallen this hard, to the ground.

He could only remember how his older brother Paul felt when getting shot. Eventually, he discarded that thought away since it wouldn’t help him. Instead, he used his energy in using the leftovers rags from his pants to splint his leg and avoided looking at black and blue discoloration setting into his skin. His shoulder hurt when he tried to rotate his arms, and there was this feeling of pressure in the head, that forced him to close his eyes.

It was either that or see the world spinning.

He rested against a tree, fighting to stay conscious, but in the end, his body rebelled against him. He used his backpack as a pillow and took out his best knife for defense. As if by wielding a half-blunt kitchen knife would give him the necessary strength to fight whatever foe that decided to interrupt his rest.

Seconds before he lost consciousness, he thought of his family. The family that even to this day, he missed with all of his heart. Ma, Pa, his brother Paul and his sister Mary. Thinking if they all felt that way when life decided to snatch them away from him.

_ Wait for my family, I’m coming. _

He woke up to voices chatting around him.

“Well, I think he will be a nice gift to Nat,” Was the first thing he finally understood. At first, he stood still, trying to understand what was going on. There were numerous sounds of people talking and walking together. Someone was carrying him, and there was a blanket covering his freezing body.

“You know how she’s been, ever since her omega died.”

_ Who? _

“It’s been seven years,” One of them, commented in a somewhat disinterest tone. He blinked, trying to distinguish the blurry figures. But it took a while for his eyes to focus. There were seven men smelling like pine trees walking up north. And four females guarding them.

_ What’s happening? _

“At one point she’ll want to settle down again,”

_ What’s going on? _

“And because she’s one our friend, Ethan…,” A man with dark olive skin and curly hair talked. The same man who was carrying him. “A friend who’s lonely and who will surely die if she stays another day holed up in that dammed laboratory of hers. We’re doing her a favor.”

“I agree with Caleb. We all know she’s been thinking about courting an omega, but since most of them back in the base are mated,” A woman with piercing hazel eyes and her closely shaved, wavy, medium blond hair shrugged. “Well, lucky us, uh?”

“He’s really cute, Sarah,” A man said. “I can’t imagine how this poor thing was left alone. How could someone leave him like that?”

“He’s not mated, I checked.”

“I hope this won’t blow up to our faces, Tom,” Another voice warned. It was a woman with auburn hair falling across her shoulders, muting the black of her shirt. Even from afar, Max could see the muscle hiding underneath the shirt. “You know how she hates being played.”

“Trust me, one look at this pretty face,” A tall bulky looking man with wrinkles covering his earth-brown skin, pointed at Max who had yet to fully woke, with a wink. “And she won’t let him go. I’m sure she won’t have a problem nursing him to health,”

“All because she’s a doctor…?” A white bald man with stern brown eyes asked, confusion written all over his face.

“She’s not going to let go of him,” A woman said with a chuckle. Most of them were all dressed in cargo pants and black vest, and a shit ton of weapons. Weapons Max only saw back when he was a kid and when there were still movies.

While the rest kept talking, Max tried to reach for his knife in his pocket but soon realized he’d been immobilized. Heavy ropes were binding his hands from behind and his feet.

He couldn’t move an inch.

_ Fuck. _

He closed his eyes and tried to think about what he could do next. Bargain? He didn’t have a thing they would be interested unless one counted his jar with knick-knacks and his book. Escape? He couldn’t, not with the ropes binding him so tightly around his leg-

Wait, he thought, he couldn’t feel his left leg.

And that was when the panic kicked in.

“Please,” He managed to slur out, but it was like his tongue was heavy and the rest of his mouth was dry. Had his tongue ever weighed that much? He briefly pondered, before letting the thought go. There were more pressing things to go worried about “Let me go,”

“Guys, he woke up,” The man with the curly hair commented minutes later after Max started struggling to get free.

One of them groaned.

“I knew you all had to stay quiet. Now look what you did,” He pointed at him, annoyed. A hand closed over the back of Max’s neck, and he went out like a light. “Poor thing thinks we’re going toss him into a hole full of hordes or something,”

  
  
  



	2. Interlude pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/11/2019: this was initially posted as the fourth chapter of the story, but I came to the conclusion that it would make sense of I made it the second. Sorry for the confusion.  
As to the interlude, it will consist of two parts.
> 
> 12/26/2019: minor edits

Mom always told him there were two responses in this world against danger: fight or flight.

Since they lived in a rural town and they didn’t always have access to a doctor, a natural method to know which gender you were, was putting you up in a dangerous situation and observe how you reacted. The first time he’d been put on a dangerous situation had been in front of a horde, breaking up Dad’s expectation of being an Alpha.

Normally Alphas were hardwired to fight, as their instincts told them to protect.

Betas would negotiate and do a little bit of both.

The flight was reserved to the omegas, who’s submissive nature always made itself known. Ever wanted to fight with an omega? Ah! Good luck with that, since the second the omega smelled danger, they would bolt. Mom had always been a swift runner and always taught Max how to run faster.

Always preaching that the key to survival was running fast and ahead, even if she had been one of the first members of their family to perish after the outbreak for trying to save Max. After that, Max always tried to follow her mother's footsteps; to run and never look back.

Sometimes he fought against a zombie or two, with his knife. Itching to hear those sound zombies made when his knife connected to their heads. But not because you knew how to fight meant that you were safe. Dad, for example, had been the best fighter in the whole family and years later, an undead still got to him.

Or like Maria who, despite being the fastest of their pack, had been eating alive to give Max more time to flee. When they accidentally stumbled upon a hungry horde near an abandoned building. That moment when he had to watch how they ripped her sister apart and blood spilled all over the ground, as Paul forcefully carried him, had been one of the hardest moments in his life.

A few days after Maria’s death, he’d talked to his family at the tender age of twelve and let them know that it was okay for them to let him go since he was going to be a bother for them.

The slap his father gave after he finished talking took days to heal.

It was only after his brother Paul died that Max decided to ditch the remains of civilizations and lived exclusively in the wilds, where the probability of confronting an undead was much lower. Whenever he got to deal with one, it was less than three. He avoided human confrontations with other survivors too, since it reminded him too much of Paul’s death.

Strangely so, animals didn’t make him tensed up as much as the undead. Maybe it was due to his childhood dream of being a veterinary. Or maybe it had to do because he’d been raised his whole life on a farm until he was ten.

Either way, his lifestyle had worked up well until he passed out and woke up to multiple voices deciding his fate. Especially when someone touched the back of his neck, a sensitive place that only required a single touch there and even the strongest omega could go limp in seconds.

It was why many omegas wore collars in the first place, to avoid being manhandled by whatever alpha that posed their way. Whenever he asked his mom why she decided to wear one, she would always respond with a hardened smile and saying that Max only would understand it when he was older and got a mate. He only prayed that none of the people who kidnapped him would force him into a bond. Would they make him wear a collar? 

But it was only hearing how he was going to be gifted, as Max constantly faded in and out of consciousness due to the pain of his leg, that scared him. It reminded him of all the warnings his mother gave him about Alphas and Betas. Or all the horrifying stories Maria told him of her classmates.

Now, what exactly did they say about Alphas and Betas? Pretty simple, how he should_ always stay away from them._

* * *

“Is he still alive, Sarah?” Was the first thing he heard once he woke up, hours later. When the sun had set down, and many of the animals Max avoided, lurked at night. Yet it seemed as if the group (he’d been forcefully integrated into) didn’t particularly care about that sort of thing.

It made his anxiety rocketed because those same careless mistakes killed people.

It was after all, what killed his Dad. 

“I hope so,” Came the reply. Soon a hand reached out to his neck and checked his pulse, before letting an approving hum. Max, on the side, froze on the man’s hold. “The last thing we want is to wake up to a zombie attacking us, even if it’s a cute one,”

“We need to set up a camp,” The blonde woman who gave all the vibes of being the leader quickly changed the topic and pointed. “It’s getting dark,”

“Yes, sir.” The rest of the group responded. The guy who had been carrying him (who Max later learned he was named Caleb) gently put him on the ground, near the group’s things and left, leaving Max in the center. Then three men started setting up a tent, while another one kept watch from behind. Some meters away, two more started setting up traps and…_ some sort of fence…? _

He wanted to inspect it, see it up a close. There could be a small hole left, that he could use to his advantages. Maybe he could wait until they were asleep and creep to his exit. Ohh, but what if he threw an r-

A hand on his neck forced him to turn around, and out of instinct, Max slapped the hand away. Caleb’s eyes briefly widen in surprise, before taking a grab of his hair and pulled. Max’s yelped, his eyes watering in pain, and tried to lash out. His knife, where was his knife, if only he had his knife-

The pain in his scalp only intensified, and he howled. When Caleb pulled again, he walked to avoid getting his hair pulled more. It was how he was forced to walk to a spot near the fire, and a blanket was thrown at him when he sat. He instantly rubbed his head and whined when he felt the pain in the back of his head, wanting to stab him. He glared at him, with as much hate as he could project only to flinch when Caleb narrowed his eyes at him and pointed.

“You will stop that nonsense boy” Then he added, effectively shattering Max’s hope of escaping. “And don’t think we didn’t saw you eyeing the fence. It’s electrified. Do you understand?”

Max’s stomach sank as the realization that he would be with them the whole night.

“How’s the leg?” A woman from afar yelled.

“It’s seen better days,” Called responded, giving him one last stern look at Max before walking away. Despite not wanting to, he started tearing up, because what_ type of…monster would do that to him?_ He only reacted out of fear. He looked at them, clutching his hair, before quickly wiping his tears. Since the last thing he needed was pity in this group of monsters.

Someone from the group snorted.

“Hey, don’t be a dick” The blond woman who had earlier wrapped him into a blanket walked up to him, carrying a massive amount of firewood. Soon the firewood was stacked beside the fireplace, and Max wasn’t going to lie, being near the fire was kind of nice.

“Aww baby boy’s exhausted,” One of the men commented when Max finally melted against the warmth. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever felt comfortable (excluding the pain radiating from his scalp) and not…_ cold._ Compared to what the other men and women were wearing, Max’s clothes were rags. A gentle poke on his forehead made him raise his head.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, sweetheart,” The same blonde woman smiled at him. Max grimaced when his stomach growled at the smell of food being cooked. “You still have to eat,”

He eyed the food, some type of broth, with suspicious. He wasn’t a fool; he knew that things in this world weren’t for free anymore and that everything had a cost; either information (that he had none), resources (his backpack he hadn’t seen in the whole trip, making it very probable they had left it behind), or…_his body._

Suddenly his instincts of _escape! get out! flee!_ hit him. But Max knew that he was outnumbered. His heart skipped a beat when he glanced around and noticed how he was surrounded by all sides. And what was worse is that he didn’t know them; he didn’t know how they would react, if they would kill him for trying to resist or-

“Come on sweetheart,” She prompted, nearing the cup to his lips, “Do you want it?”

His eyes darted to the cup she was carrying, and he licked his cracked lips. His stomach growled again. He wanted to flee and never look back. Be back in the forest he knew by hand, but…he was hungry, so hungry and he had only eaten yesterday, and there was food_ right there._ Food that was so scarce and limited during winter, now a few centimeters away from his face.

_ Food _

He eventually nodded.

“Good boy,” She smiled and ruffled his hair, please to see his reactions. He flinched when her hand went to the back of his neck, gently squeezed. “You’ll need to stay still while I feed you, okay?”

_ W-what? _ Cold dread settled in the pit of Max's stomach.

“No need to make a fuzz, darling,” She reassured him, but to Max, it sounded more like a warning than anything else. He gulped and avoided her eyes, but a hand grasped his cheek and forced him to look into her eyes. She smiled, again. “Just let me feed you,”

“I can feed myself,” Came the weak reply. What if he angered her? Or even worse, what if she took the food away? Then he added more quietly since the last thing he wanted was to anger the stranger. “ma’am.”

“Don’t be silly, sweetheart. You don’t smell like a beta nor you fought like an Alpha, when we found you,” She continued petting him. A few meters away was the rest of the group that judging by their cackles and laughs, playing some sort of game. “Everybody knows that omegas only eat from an Alpha’s hand.”

When Max didn’t respond, she added, in a warning.

“Either you eat from my hand and let me feed you or you will sleep without food. Those are my two options honey. Don’t make it difficult, it has been a tiring day for both of us”

He closed his eyes, feeling the prickle of tears. He never remembered Dad forcing Mother or Maria to eat this way. He wanted to lash out, bite her hand for even daring to submit him into such a degrading act, but…he was hungry. As much as he hated it, he needed to eat.

After what seemed like a lifetime, he eventually gave in. He let her manhandle him into her lap who surprisingly so placed him in a way that didn’t aggravate more his leg. A hand cupped his face and a spoon with the broth was brought to his lips. The savory liquid hit his taste buds, and he moaned without thinking.

The food was simply heavenly_. _

“Good boy,” She praised while she spoon-fed him. Max closed his eyes and tried to concentrate more on the flavor than the smug smell the Alpha was radiating all over the camp.

It was hours later when he couldn’t move his legs nor his arms that he realized something.

He should have known the food was drugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on updates will be slower, I hope you can understand :( Thanks for reading!


	3. Interlude pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I'm going to take some time off from ao3  
Also me: *updates after 2 days* ...why AM I LIKE THIS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHH
> 
> 31/12: minor changes.

During the first hours of dawn, the group quickly disarmed the tents and implements. Soon the traps and the electric movable fence were gone, along with their tents. A quick breakfast of the same broth they had yesterday was shared between all the members, and the last portion was given to the omega who had yet awake from his drugged-up state.

Not that his opinion would matter, anyways.

After checking everything was in place, they started to move. With one objective in mind and that was to reach the Military base turned into a quarantine zone they had come associate with home, many kilometers away from their current spot. Some of the members of the groups were eagerly waiting to come back and see their mates while others were dreading to be trapped there until winter passed.

Since many of their small group, just like any other scouts, had come to love the small freedom that came from exploring this wasteland. The chance of finding new routes, abandoned towns or zones that would be used by the base.

All while not having to care for consequences of the many rules imparted back there.

In the three months, they had scouted, they had marked a map with all their new findings and potential zones that could be used to their advantages. They had even found a herd of wild cattle roaming near the limits of their patrol, and if they reached the base fast enough, they could notify the scavenge group team so they could capture or hunt a few.

Anything to the wellbeing of the base.

Personally, their leader Sarah Zhang was hoping to not get yelled from his superiors for the month and a half delay. They were going to be the last group of scouts to come back, since a rather violent storm had left them trapped for a week. When they finally started their way back, they had to deal with discovering that most frequent paths got destroyed.

Paths that were essential to not get lost.

“Let’s keep in fast ladies unless you want to die here,” Sarah yelled while pushing forward. The vegetation was dense, and with the cold there was mud everyone, slowing them down. Despite that, the rest of the group kept walking to a swift pace, while it was Tom’s turn to carry the omega. Someone in the group groaned, making Sarah roll her eyes. Probably Ethan, the new guy of the group. A young alpha who had been assigned to them recently, after their old comrade died due to an undead.

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him and said in a clipped tone.

“We have one day to get to the base, or they will close the gates and we won’t be able to enter, Ethan. Keep it together dude,” It was true, in a way. If they didn’t get there fast enough, their superiors would consider them dead and close the gates. Once closed, they would remain closed until the snowmelt.

And everybody knew they wouldn’t have a single chance of surviving winter in the wilds.

Which was why Sarah had one mission and that was too fucking get there. Not feeling one ounce of remorse for drugging the hurt omega they found a day before, since he would only distract them in his effort to escape. And with a group full of testosterone, there was a high chance of the omega being bitten or fucked if he tried to run.

A bite that would leave him bonded forever, and then the omega would be useless to Sarah.

She had big plans for him, after all.

* * *

The scout enforcement's purpose was to ensure that any threats were eliminated before they could reach the base. Working as a scouter was simple; all you had to do was patrol with other fellows, notify any changes in their territories, and kill any undead or stray survivor they found in the way.

Technically Sarah had violated one of their rules when she decided to not kill the omega they found back there. Since the base had long declared they couldn't shelter more people unless one of the existing families within the base decided to adopt them since, after a decade of surviving, they had reached a steady population and resources to feed it was limited.

But hopefully, if everything went along, Sarah wouldn’t be in trouble.

She glanced back at the boy wrapped up in blankets, peacefully sleeping and drooling on Tom’s vest. Judging by Tom’s annoyed expression back there, Sarah would tell his hands were itching to touch him. Probably frustrated he couldn’t touch the boy without gaining Sarah’s ire.

_ Best not to tempt fate, uh? _

They kept walking. Soon the sun broke through the cracks, lighting up the dirt path ahead of them, decorated with outgrown roots, wildflowers and fallen branches that crunched beneath their feet. They still had a long way to go, before their radio could pick up the signal of the base.

“Hey, Sarah?” Caleb asked, after an hour of walk.

“Yes?” Sarah answered, more preoccupied with the scratches on a nearby tree. She could remember how those scratches weren’t there a month ago. Her hands immediately went to her gun. A predator perhaps? Or an undead?

“Look,” Her eyes quickly darted to where Caleb pointed, gun ready to fire. Only to lower her gun once she saw what Caleb was referring to.

“Oh,” She said, her throat struggling to work. It was a girl, or rather…the remains of a little girl. Couldn’t have been older than four. The head was missing, and someone had taken a good chunk of her arm, but Sarah could have bet it had been a predator and not a zombie that got the kid. It was very probably the girl was traveling with their parents to seek asylum in the base before wolves or zombies attacked them. 

It reminded her of her mate Liu and their four-year-old kid, who was waiting for her back at home. A small pang of guilt crept into her soul at the reminder of the heartbroken expression Liu had given her when she notified him three months ago, she was going on a trip. He'd recently miscarried, and like the ever-stupid fool that she was, she fled two days later. Anything than to deal with the grief of their unborn son.

_ I’ll make it up to him, _

_ I promise _ _Liu_

She took one more glance at the decomposing body, before ordering the group to keep moving. It was one of the things she had to get used too, ever since the apocalypse hit. Fourteen years later, and there were still people out dying. People being killed for trying to survive. After what seemed like a lifetime, Sarah’s radio picked up a signal. She pulled the radio from her backpack, touch the talk button and clear her throat.

“Homebase, this is Sarah Zhang talking from Patrol 45 informing,” She repeated twice, and waited anxiously for the response. “No casualties from our group. We ask for the main gate to be open, I repeat this is Sarah Zhang talking and…”

Then Sarah clipped the radio to her belt and ordered the group to form a defensive formation. It didn’t hurt to be cautious or overprepared.

Back when things used to be normal, Sarah wouldn’t have needed to scout the perimeter by ground. It would have only taken her fifteen minutes to search with the help of a plane, but things had changed. Ever since she’d been living in the base, the post commander had taken her aircraft pilot privileges (and god how she missed flying) and gave her the option to either be a scouter, a farmer or die.

And now, fourteen years later, there she was risking her life. Her concentration briefly slipped when the drugged omega whined in protest when Joey accidentally touched his hurt leg.

She glared at Joey and _snarled._

“Don’t damage the merchandise Joey,” Sarah warned. Just like she expected the boy was high as a kite, but she didn’t want to take any chances in damaging more his leg. He was going to be a present, after all. “Or else Nat won’t take him.”

“Are you sure she will even take in?”

“She will,” Sarah said with conviction, but she wasn’t so sure. Ever since her best friend Natasha Woods, had lost her mate Kip, she hadn’t been the same.

“Even if I force her too,” She muttered the last part. Everybody from their group was close to Nat too, as she’d been the one assigned for years to tender their wounds until she got reassigned to the maternity ward. After the outbreak, she had been working her ass off to find a cure and replicate penicillin.

But it all went to shit when Kip fell ill and died. She wasn’t there when Kip was disposed of, but when she got back from her expedition to check on her, Nat had taken his death hard. The confident, proud, alpha Nat became a living wreck.

Kip’s death had affected her so much that all of her progress stalled, and her aspiring projects had to be canceled since her inability to not pass out from exhaustion had put in danger too many times her co-workers.

“I’m sure the omega will be good for her,” She said with conviction. At this point, Sarah was desperate to try anything to gain her friend back. Even if she had to break some rules. “You know how she loves to care of others,”

Luckily, the radio responded.

“This is home-base talking and welcome back Sarah Zhang,” The group cheered, and they soon caught sight of the tall looming gates of the base. _Home_. Sarah grinned. “We thought we lost you there,”

“Nah, Homebase. You know it will more than a few zombies to get me,” She said confidently with a smug smile. Three months of the cold mornings, dealing with wolves and whatever predator stood in their way. But each step she was getting near spending the next days with her Liu “I’m no Sarah Zhang for nothing,”

“Then you will be glad to be informed that your superiors are eagerly waiting to talk to you” The Homebase was quick to respond. “About your delay,”

She winced.

Well, _shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I changed the summary! Hope you don't mind. Thanks for reading this so far! And sorry for the confusion!


	4. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Natasha Woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello I'm back

The day started like any other, for 44-year-old, Natasha Woods. She woke up at dawn in a house too big for her, profusely sweating, with her heart beating way too hard for her liking. After a moment of debating whether to stay a few more minutes in bed or wash, she ended up ditching the bed and going straight to heat a bucket of water.

Showers were a thing of the past now.

_ Good thing I like bathing with you, Nat. _ Was what Kip, her mate, once said to her, after new implementations were imparted in the base about water control.

It had been during the first couple years since the Apocalypse hit and the military finally managed to fend off the undead roaming the military base. Before the outbreak, Nat had lived and worked in that same military base as a doctor, for three years.

When Nat had been notified there was shelter back at the base, she didn’t doubt to follow since her omega Kip had health complications and he couldn’t run very far without damaging his joints.

At that point she had been willing to risk her life and be admitted into a safe place ruled by crazy people, everything to not risk Kip’s life.

And while she knew there would be some regulations and perhaps dumb political rules (they were military, after all), nothing had prepared her to come back to the base and deal with all that fuckery change of power.

Martial Law impartment, total control of their resources, constant scrutiny, were some of the things Nat had to get used to. Seeing how the Post Commander’s word was the law and everyone who dared to come against it, either vanished or was publicly executed, was like drinking rancid juice. It had been horrifying to witness it and see it with her very own eyes, but she knew there was no other choice.

Kip wouldn’t have stood a chance in the wild.

A great example of that had been during the first year they got the base back, where the water became a limited resource. For the first two years each family would only use one bucket per day, and whoever was surprised taking a shower or using more would be killed without warning.

At first, Nat thought it was a joke or a mechanism to install fear to the rest of the people who had willingly followed up to the base. Some had families with too many members. After all, Nat had seen with her very own eyes how the Post commander’s family used more than one bucket, surely, they would give them one more bucket, right?

_ Wrong _

When one morning she saw the military shooting five families who had infracted the rule, she realized the post commander wasn’t kidding. From that day she kept her head down and shut her mouth, despite whatever harsh imposition they imparted.

That month, Nat’s anxiety also doubled up because how would they survive with only one bucket of water per day? How would they distribute their water correctly? What if the temperature rises and Kip felt thirsty? Or if Kip’s arthritis pain flared? They didn’t have any medication to treat Kip’s joint pain anymore, so they needed hot water to treat Kip’s arthritis! And humans needed to drink two liters of water minimum to stay hydrated! In that bucket, there was less than two!

Kip, on the other hand, simply smiled at her worries and led her the next day straight to the bathroom. Her smiling Kip had tenderly washed and massaged her back using a small cup of water and sponge before her sneaky omega had “accidentally” gotten tangled in between her legs with an objective in mind, and all Nat’s worries when away when a cunning tongue got involved.

That had been one hell of a morning.

_ (She never managed to forget the annoying expression his boss threw at her for arriving two hours late with her neck full of hickies, after fucking Kip against the bathroom’s wall with only her fingers and the sounds of him begging for more. That morning had been worth it) _

It was one of the things she had loved about Kip; how despite every adversity thrown at them, Kip would stay positive no matter what. How would Kip always manage to find a solution whenever she got stressed and mentally blocked at the new implications in this post-apocalyptic world, where people didn’t care about morals anymore and only the greediest or more powerful survived.

It was wrong.

_ They’re going to ration our food? Well, good thing I like to garden, uh, we’ll grow so many things in the backyard you’ll get sick of it! What? They won’t give us any coat this winter? Don’t worry about that, let me knit you a sweater using the scraps you got the other day! _

_ They're not going to give us soap? Oh, I remember reading the other day about making your soap from scratch, isn’t that amazing Nat? Also, non-related soap whatsoever question, what is your type of favorite essence? Nat, are you listening to me? _

_ Naat, hey Nat! _

_ Nat! _

_ Don’t ignore me…wait…you…stop laughing at me? This is a serious thing, okay? And s-stop distracting me with kisses! I’m trying to have a serious civilized conversation with my alpha, for god’s sake! _

She can almost taste the warmth Kip used to radiate all over the place. Back when they were only a younger couple fresh from medical and art school, who after years of battling debt due to Kip’s expensive arthritis treatment, had forced Nat to apply to the military medical research team, to lower the cost of medication and hospital bills.

Back when they had been given military housing and a monthly allowance before Nat had to confiscate it from Kip because she didn’t want their house to look like a mess. Especially since Kip had _terrible t_aste.

Hell, even pregnancy hadn’t changed him from his disastrous taste in arts.

She waited until the tea kettle started whistling, then poured the scalding water into the bucket and walked to the bathroom. From there, she started cleaning herself with the generic soap she bought the other day, her muscles working from memory. She avoided putting pressure on the giant scar on her backs or the one in her right leg, all wounds inflicted once the dead started roaming the earth and they were forced to evacuate. People misplacing her goodwill to help people for naïve when people started forming groups to survive and them wanting to have a taste of her Kip.

As you can probably guess, those said Alphas went down quick. It took her a while to recover from her injuries while still working alongside with Kip and whatever survivor that had strayed during the base’s emergency evacuation since one of her opponents had stabbed her deep in the back.

Luckily for both, they managed to find some of their friends and stayed together forming one big group. During that time Nat had ensured that none of the omega and beta, that had lost their alphas during the evacuation and decided to join them, would be abused since she knew it would only be a matter of time before stumbling into other groups that could have their alphas.

And it did.

Five months later, they were (forcefully) asked to join a bigger and powerful scout group that belonged to the military, who were recruiting people to populate the base. Nat didn’t trust them. They were the kind of groups that had assault rifles and grenades at plain view purely for intimidating factor, and the looks that if they didn’t join them there was going to be hell to pay.

It was only later when they had reached the base and were greeted by the post commander in person that Nat realized the reason they had acted so menacing had been for the stray omegas and betas in their group. That had failed to mention they were the commander’s pack.

Kip had almost fainted, when she informed him, too.

During those seven months in the wilds and until they went back to the base, Nat gained a lot of superficial scars that were still sensitive even to this day. But she knew, that compared to what any other people have gone through during these fourteen years, her scars were a small price to pay. There have been people who had lost their legs, arms, fingers, and ears due to the undead.

In a world where despite all the technological and medical advances they had done during centuries: gangrenes, infections, and amputations are now the new norm. All because they still haven’t found a way to rediscover antibiotics and vaccines. There are nights where Nat laid down in bed and tried to not let the anxiety or panic get to her every time she thought about the kids and babies that have yet to be vaccinated.

Days where she saw couples walking down with their kids in the military base and prayed none of them will catch tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenza type B, cholera, typhoid, Streptococcus pneumonia or even the common bacteria floating in the air.

Because they will suffer and die, and there was nothing Nat can do about him. Years of pharmacology, physiology, pathology and pathophysiology knowledge ingrained into her head had gone to the drain and waste since she can’t apply them anymore.

At least not getting a supply of medication.

The medication she doesn’t know how to make.

Days where she thought that someone will have to bury their kid, partner of loved ones not because they had been bitten by the undead, but because after more than a decade of investigation, Nat hasn’t found a way to successfully replicate antibiotics or vaccines yet and it hurts. Those thoughts always end up with her in tears, because in the end…it was what got Kip killed.

It hadn’t been a horde, wild animals or a hostile survivor that got to him. But rather small minuscule living organism, for saving the little baker’s girl who got dragged by the river, next to the base.

Something so small she can’t see it without the help of a microscope and yet, in a matter of weeks it had debilitated Kip so much, he couldn’t even speak properly without coughing blood.

She can remember, very clearly their last day together, when his superiors (despite her frantic pleads) finally ordered Kip to be put down. They needed to dispose of the body quickly before it got turned into a zombie and attacked, but none of that registered into Nat’s mind the moment an officer pointed with his military assault rifle at Kip’s head.

_ It’s okay Nat, it’s going to be okay. _ Was what Kip tried to say from the other side of the glass room, while another officer aimed at his head, but between the sobbing and the crying Nat hadn’t been able to say a proper goodbye. _I need you to close your eyes, babe. Everything will be ok-_

And she had wanted so badly to kiss him, hug him, to reassure him that she loved him so much and that she was sorry for failing him but the rules were rules and the base wouldn’t afford the risk of losing one of their best medics due bacteria contamination and possibly turning into a zombie for sentimentality. Especially in a world where civilization had gone down, and doctors were needed to ensure the survival of their camp.

In the end, she had to be restrained by a mix of her friends and whatever officer was in there, seconds before the firing, since the smell of her pregnant omega being scared had set off her instincts and all she wanted was Kip. Someone had to cover her eyes as she screamed in terror because it was Kip, her beautiful amazing Kip that was there alone and in pain when one of the shots was fired and didn’t kill him immediately.

It took another more for the body to fall to the ground.

_ It’s going to be okay, Nat. _

Then another shot when the body reanimated a few minutes later, with a horrifying un-Kip grunt that had even _to this day gave her chilling nightmares._

_ I…love…you. _


	5. Chapter 5

Someone was knocking at her door, she realized minutes after staring into the wall. The water had long gone cold, and she was shivering. It was probably her assistant, letting her know that breakfast was ready and new files to be revised. She took a towel and dried her body, not before drying the tears and snot too.

It was one…of the few things, her superiors implemented after…Kip. In the first weeks, she had disassociated, putting her body on autopilot while her mind took time to process the loss. But when her mind realized that no one would be waiting for her back home with a smile and a kiss (no Kip) that her alpha instincts started shutting down one by one to alleviate the process that her mate was gone.

Simple things such as cooking and cleaning quickly lost the desire and appeal, since there would be no Kip to give food to. No Kip to tease and made love to.

No Kip to protect against other alphas or laugh at her awful jokes. No house to renovate, since no Kip would be waiting at the fire to soothe his arthritis, covered with whatever monstrosity he tended to knit during winter.

No reason to tend the garden, since no Kip would be there to plant seeds, harvest it and let everybody know how much he loved tomatoes. No reason to eat because no Kip would fuzz over her. No reason to buy tomatoes, since they were Kip’s favorite.

And the list went on until all Nat was left was emptiness.

“Good morning Nat,” Her assistant, a twenty-seven-year-old beta Jack, greeted her. She greeted her back, before picking up the slice of bread that Jack had brought. “Did you sleep alright?”

She forced a smile and lied through her teeth. The last thing she needed was Jack alerting his superiors about his fragile mental health. There had been one intervention, four years ago, when they thought she would harm herself others and they banned her from her laboratories, canceling all her progress and projects.

One last look at the mirror cemented the idea.

“Yeah, comes with the part of living in here,” She replied while taking one gulp of that awful herbal concoction Jack brewed every day. Not that she had anything against chamomile and lavender since these days Nat relied on them heavily to deal with most of her pregnant patient’s nausea (including the Post Commander’s wife and older daughter, both omegas).

But as tea?

As to willingly boil them down and drink them?

Knowing they have no caffeine?

_ No motherfucking thank you. _

If she was partially honest, one of the things she surely missed from the before the world was coffee. That hot drink, with pleasant tasting and full flavor. At least she could admit she used to have an addiction back there; as Arabic Brans, Americano, hazelnut, french vanilla, and mocha had been part of her favorites.

Kip, bless his heart, always made sure she grew up spoiled here before the outbreak happened; he used the finest brown beans, always freshly brewed and served with half a cup of soymilk just the way she liked it. Nat used to always joke that seeing Kip dressed as a barista back in college had been what had her drawn to him like a magnet.

“It’s pretty quiet,”

“Well you could always change houses Nat,” Jack said while looking at the backyard who has uh, seen better days. There was still the foundation of a raised bed but hidden under who knows how many leaves and decayed flowers. After…Kip, Nat didn’t have the heart to remove the plants Kip had lovingly planted nor she felt worthy enough to harvest them, after failing to save him.

Then years went, and now the whole backyard was a big ass mess, between dead and undead plants that in a few more weeks would be covered by snow and-

“You know, there are still some good-looking houses for a single Alpha like you.”

She hummed, already knowing the answer. Even if seven years had passed since Kip and even if the house was indeed very big for her, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t physically remove herself from the house that she and Kip had lived for so many years.

She couldn’t.

“I’ll keep in mind,” Was what she said instead. Perhaps she could talk to her to one of her friends and help her clean her backyard mess. But the truth was, Nat, didn’t want to waste any more time. While it had been seven years and she was still coming to terms with his beloved Kip’s death, there wasn’t a single day where Nat didn’t think of him, as she worked in her laboratory after her office’s appointments. Because fourteen years ago, the bacterial pneumonia Kip had would have been cured in a matter of days with the help of penicillin.

Heck, she could still remember the exact doses and enough days for the medicine to kick in, as she had once prescribed that order hundreds of times during her brief time in her private doctor’s office in New York during winter before applying to the military.

She had a duty.

An oath she swore when she graduated as a doctor, and that was to help people. She needed to replicate penicillin soon so another family wouldn’t be destroyed like hers. So, another person didn’t lose their loved ones due to illness, that was once so simple to cure.

_ For Kip _

* * *

There was something about his assistant’s eyes, that sparkled with mischief, that prompt her into giving her the whole day off. Yet when she entered the building and found no one, she began to regret sending him off.

Especially when she entered her office, pushed past the main door (past that corner that had a stubborn spot of blood that no matter how much scrubbing, it was always there) and none of the secretaries she worked with was there.

It gave her the chills.

She immediately took out her weapon and raised it high enough that if an undead were to burst through the other door, she would be ready.

“Someone out there?” She asked tensions all over her body. The sight of her friend, Sarah, still wearing the military gear made her sigh in relief. She immediately lowered her gun. “For fuck's sake Sarah, I almost shot you. Warn a little next time, will you?”

“Sure. I forgot your poor heart can’t get scared at this age,” She shot her smile, and Nat simply punch her in the arm, hard. _Asshole,_ she thought while her friend rubbed her arm. She wasn’t that old. Personally, in her opinion 44 years old was young still to her standards. Sure, she wasn’t as physically active as in her thirties, and there were a few more beauty marks for frowning too much, but other than that…Natasha was still the same. Widowed, but still the same. Okay, widowed with a few more wrinkles around her face but still the same.

_ Old age Sarah’s ass. _

“Ow, Nat. That hurts,”

“That’s for being an asshole and not seeing me for months,” She crossed her arms and stared at her. Sarah fidgeted, a clear sign she was hiding something. Normally she would be forgiving since most of her friends were scouts and had to travel far distances to check if there was a horde, group of survivors or a pack of predators around the area.

But this?

Three months without an answer?

She punched her again and this time she yelped.

“And that one is for Liu”

“What has Liu done to you Nat,” She moaned in despair, blocking another punch Nat threw at her. “I don’t deserve to get hit by my best friend, twice.”

“Well sometimes best friend forgets their mate is pregnant and still scout,” She growled in that very clipped tone of hers. The moment she saw Liu Zhang sitting her office all alone after scheduling a maternity appointment with his four-year-old trailing around, had made her see red. “Considering what he went through, I thought you would be there for him. Or has scouting made you forget again?”

Except that Sarah blinked at her twice and blurted out.

“Wait, what did you just say? Liu’s pregnant?”

“You didn’t know?!” She clasped her mouth, now horrified. It never went through her head that maybe, perhaps Liu was waiting for Sarah to get back to tell the news. That may be the pregnancy was a surprise. _Shit. _One thing is fore she, she was one horrible person.

“Liu didn’t tell me anything when I left, Nat," Oh god, she could see from the way Sarah was talking, this was new to her. "I promise on Liu’s life, I swear I didn’t know."

_ Double shit _

“He’s…,” Nat licked her lips, considering whether to tell her at all. Part of her mind, the moral doctor she still carried within, told her no. Years of being mentally conditioned throughout medicine school about not breaching the patient’s confidentiality had made her not question it. But at the same…she looked at her friend who was now vibrating in anticipation. It hadn’t been that long since Liu’s miscarriage, and she knew how much they both value family. Her shoulder sagged, in defeat, hating herself once more for being so mentally weak.

She was one shitty doctor, that’s for sure

“They’re twins, and they’re both healthy,” When she didn’t receive a reply, Nat panicked. “I even have the ultrasound, but it will take me a while bec-”

She didn’t manage to finish the rest of the sentence when two massive bulky arms trapped her into a hug and squeeze her so tightly Nat briefly thought of the possibility of being killed by a hug, before she realized something was staining her blouse.

“Thank Nat,” Sarah whispered. With a resigned sigh, she wrapped her arms around her too, and gently scented her, washing away the_ Grief! Shock! Anxiety! Off_ her. It wouldn’t do well to Sarah’s baby. And…if she was being honest, even after all these years, and despite that, they were both alphas, Nat would always see Sarah as her family. Like the brash, bulky and sometimes very stupid younger sister she never had.

And sometimes one simply needed a giant hug to erase the pain. She grunted in pain when involuntarily Sarah hugged her even tighter.

Sarah was a fucking bear.

* * *

“So, you came from the entrance, shooed my secretaries to simply tell me I’m old?” Nat asked an hour late while cooling the massive bruise settling into her shoulder with the beer Sarah handed to her. She had long gotten past the point of questioning how exactly Sarah got them, but hey, scouter secret and all that jazz. As long as the base commander or any of his officials weren’t informed, it was all good.

“Nah, I love messing with you’” Sarah said with a wink. “Well, between the two of us. There’s something I’ve got to tell you and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. Or hit me. I would prefer it if you didn’t do both.”

She frowned.

“What happened Sarah?” Then different possibilities went through her head, each scenario worse than the previous one. Had…she? She quickly got to her feet and examined her, for any undead bite. There was none. She frowned again. “You know you can trust me, right? Does…does it had to something…with your scouter mission?”

“We found someone,” There ladies and gentlemen Sarah Zhang, going straight to the point. Her friend stared at her for a little, before adding. “If only you had seen him, Nat. We had no choice but to bring him in,”

Male, his mind went to immediate alert. They found a male in such a bad state that Sarah had to personally inform her, to avoid attention. Her head felt like it was spinning, because really, what was even the point, anymore?

Sarah and everyone else knew her superiors had recently changed her into the maternity department, despite her vast knowledge and specialization in the ER or her medical research team curriculum. She’d been banned from there ever since an incident occurred involving domestic violence between an officer and his omega. When she got to finally got to attend the couple, the omega was covered in blood while frantically begging for the alpha’s forgiveness.

But all Nat could see was _Kip, Kip, Kip bleeding to death._

“Where is he? Is he pregnant?” If it was a pregnant omega, Nat would help him officially. She didn’t want to push her luck. The fact that she was still standing, after hitting that same alpha (and one of Post commander’s friend), told her she was still valuable for her skills. “How did you find him? Is he hurt?

“Wait, let me explain,” She gave her an apologetic smile, took a big gulp of beer and continued.” When we were on our way back, we found an omega alone resting against the tree, and then realized he was hurt,”

“During this time of winter?” She couldn’t help to ask, flabbergasted. With temperatures reaching easily −52 °F, what the hell was that omega going there alone, in winter of all seasons? Where was the rest of his pack? He must have been freezing. “Are you sure he was completely alone? Maybe he’d been running from a horde, and got separated from his pack?”

“We checked the perimeter, and there was nothing Nat. Nothing, and he didn't smell like he had been scented. We observed him for a bit, but the poor thing was shivering. We had to double cover him in blankets, so he would stay warm” She continued. “I think his leg was broken, one of his hand was twisted in a funny and there was also wrong with his shoulder,”

“What?”

“Little guy would barely walk without flinching, so we had to knock him out. We didn’t examine him, but with the way, he was flinching and screaming to let him go…” She didn’t finish the rest of the sentence and watch how her friend Nat’s face turned colder with each word.

“And while I appreciate that you’re telling all of this, you know I’m not working for the ER anymore, right? In case it didn’t get through, they changed my designations.” At that, she couldn’t help but let a deprecating chuckle out. She’d been punished by having to see the most boring aspect of medicine in her opinion. Days filled with ultrasound, couple weeping at the ultrasound, delivering babies and all that stuff that bored her through tears. “I’m in the maternity ward now.”

“Oh, we know. But it is why I must inform you, and I hope you don’t hate me for it”

“Inform me what, Sarah?”

“Well when we went to inscribe him, there weren’t any vacant stay left, and we didn’t really want to let that poor thing be out there in the woods and especially in winter-“ Nat was not liking the way this conversation was going. “You know everyone from our group can’t take another omega in. We’re not the officials or the Post commander’s immediate family, so we only have a maximum of six members in the household, right?”

Nat nodded.

It had been other implementations they had done years ago, to control the population. When they realized they didn’t enough resources to sustain the base, they stopped sheltering survivors, unless they were either an omega or a kid that a family from the base could adopt. Despite having a shit-ton of military guarding, they had a hard time gathering enough resources.

Being self-sustainable was a pain in the ass.

“And since he was hurt, I don’t think he would have survived there, so then the official gave us an ultimatum” Sarah finished it all with one big gulp, “Either inscribed him or leave him out of the base, but we couldn’t. You know that only registered members can get access to medicine, and the office was going to close in ten more minutes and we simply panicked."

“Sarah, what exactly did you do,” When she didn’t respond, Nat grabbed her by the arm and punctuated with a growl. "Sarah. What. Did. You. Do"

A beat, before she finally confessed.

“We got him registered as your omega and- ow! Ow! OW! NAT PLEASE LET ME FINI-

“YOU DID _WHAT_!?!?!


	6. Nat, meet Max

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess this is what happens when you write really self-indulgent shit.  
Also, please ignore my probably inaccurate science rambling bullshit.  
That being said, enjoy!

If there was one thing, she loved about the base, it was the medical building. Sure, the outside painting was a little bit chipped, and a few of the windows on the first floor were broken from what she suspected had happened during the outbreak, but apart from that?

The inside of the hospital?

It was _beautiful_.

All the medical equipment was still there; the X-Rays, the hospital beds (some missing but most of them intact), endoscopic equipment, stretchers and even defibrillators (she almost cried when she found them since doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuver is such a tiring thing to do). All the things a hospital used from the _before_ were there.

Call her whatever you want to, but working there? Had given Nat a sense of normalcy, from this crazy fuck-up world. Seeing all that machinery she and all her colleagues used to everyday basis had soothed her nerves and gave her the hope that maybe one day everything could go back to the way it was.

How maybe all this machinery would be used once again.

Yet now? All she kept thinking was how Sarah Zhang was now one of his not favorite people in the world. It didn’t take long for Sarah to crumbled and blurt out the whole plan against her gaze. How the whole group of her friends (not anymore, not after this) had decided to kidnap an omega from the wilds and register him under her custody.

Brilliant plan, if you ask her. Shame that Nat has more than two brain cells and can think without her knot, because the moment she sees the omega and isn’t hurt, Sarah will have hell to pay. She will take the goddamn omega out of the base and dump it into the cold with her bare fucking hands because guess what Sarah?

She hates being _played_.

“Nat-“

“Not a single word Sarah,” She warned her because, at this point, she didn’t how she would react. There was so much anger and indignation a person can hold off before exploding, and her instincts were close to detonating. Not for the omega itself, but rather the implications behind the whole plan her dumb (ex) friend did behind her back.

_ That Kip’s death had broken her, and for her to heal the needs another omega to take care. Come on, Nat! It’s been seven years, with this omega, you’ll forget Kip in an instant! Because let’s face it, we all knew Kip wasn’t going to last forever- _

_ How could you Sarah, _ was all Nat could think while walking down the exit door with her now-not-best-friend Sarah still rubbing her swollen eye, _how dare you insult Kip’s memory with another omega, and make the assumption that he was expendable._

Normally she would do this alone, and with her head cooled off. There were four hours left at the maternity ward to be done, picking up cases and researching. But all of that stopped the moment Sarah decided to drop the bomb, about her registering an omega under her care without her permission. Now, she was focused on fixing this mess; the sooner she gets out of this, the better.

Especially, since she didn’t want any omega.

_ Liar, _ her mind chanted repeatedly as she kept her pace swift, _we both know you’ve been looking for one._ A growl escaped from her mouth because no, she didn’t want anyone. She was fine, and perfectly okay being single. Kip had been perfect, and she had no desire to court again. Having to take care of another mouth to feed? Another omega to take care of? It would only distract her from her goal, so no.

No thank you.

“Hey Nat,” Her friend started before briefly shutting down when Natasha gave her a single-pointed look. By the time they finally entered the building, her friend whispered _“I’m sorry, Nat”_ with her head down. Nat ignored her, of course.

Two steps in, and she was greeted by her apprentice.

“Nat? Hey! what are you doing here! Have they moved you back?” He talked with enthusiasm, as Nat walked through the long corridors. At this point, she knew them by heart, but it was still nice being guided by his apprentice, Lucas. He was a beta, nearing his late twenties, and one of the few people Nat had decided to teach about medicine.

_Was it even proper to call it medicine?_ The intrusive thought struck her, and she hesitated. A lot of the things she knew weren’t applicable anymore. Surgeries could be performed, but they didn’t have anesthesia (unless one counted limited stock of opium, but using it was very rare) and having to immobilize and hear your patient’s suffering while you operate was not appealing, at all.

Asthma attack? Sure, give the patient a bronchodilator. Just, you know, that sweet short-acting β-agonists drug known as Salbutamol _oh wait shit, we run out of that 12 years ago, how the fuck do I create a β-agonists, how do you even create one, to begin with, we don’t even have google-_

_(You get the idea)_

“Please tell me they transferred you back, uh…well not that I don’t like the new doctor in charge! You know, it just not the same and you didn’t teach me everything you know s- “She nodded absently as Lucas talked in the background. Well, but she _did_ teach everyone interested in first aid, and all the maneuvering of basic surgery, and that itself was medicine…right? Plus, Lucas alongside three other members had stuck long enough to be taught X-rays and the basis of internal Medicine.

_ Get it together for fuck sakes_. _What happened to the confident Alpha you used to be, uh? _She gripped the door handle a tighter. It was true, in a way. Back when _Kip _was alive, she used to make herself known as the terror in ER, cowering whatever alfa or beta who thought she would bow down to them because of her gender.

_ Now? Ha! You’re barely a scaredy-cat, begging for scraps. _

_ “ _Nat? Are you okay?” The beta flinched at her hard stare and took a step back.”Do…you need me to get you some water…?”

She smiled at him.

“Nope,” She stressed the p sound as long as she could and went straight to the “only personal allowed”. She wasn’t going to waste another second for this whole shitshow. “I’m here for another thing. I need to go to the visitation room”

“Uh?” He cocked his head to the side,” What do you need?”

_ My omega- _

Nat smiled showing her pointy fangs.

“See the omega this asshole,” She pointed at Sarah, who ducked her head ashamed. “Dumped. He’s not mine, but I figured I could help you with the examination.”

* * *

Freckles.

That was the first thing that came to her mind when she saw him bedridden, too doped to notice her entering the room. Freckles, so many freckles decorating his cheekbones, his cute button-like nose, and his forehead. At first, she had forced herself to not lick his face, just to prove they were freckles and not tiny dots of chocolate.

But with each second that passed, the urge to lick him became stronger.

_ This is ridiculous, _ she thought with exasperation, when her hands started examining him, without input. Lucas, on his part, didn’t say anything, too preoccupied with finding the omega’s medical chart in his disorganized desk. Good, she thought because if Lucas asked, she didn’t have one good explanation of why she wanted to lick him.

“I think I must have left it on the other room” Lucas finally said, a blush creeping in, clearly embarrassed. Nat hummed in response, too preoccupied with the creature sleeping on the bed, to scold him. There would be a later time where she would go and sternly remind him that organization is key within the medical world.

”I’m so sorry Nat”

“How about you go find it while I examined him, hmm?” She said before her mind could fully register it. Lucas nodded vigorously and left, leaving her alone with the boy. She circled him, twice. He had a lovely face, that she wouldn’t doubt.

He had pretty lips, too.

The kind of lips that made her want to sink her teeth into until the skin broke and only let go when she tasted blood. The top lip was thinner, but not too much, following a natural cupid's bow form while the bottom one was larger and fuller.

Her gloved hands touched his cheeks and pulled upwards, to recreate a smile and a chuckle accidentally left her mouth when she discovered cute looking dimples in each cheek. 

Then she got a hold of his throat with one hand and the other at the back of his neck and slowly turned him to get more access to it.

Sarah had been right at least in one thing; the boy’s neck was bare. She got closer, and soon her nose meets his smooth skin. She sniffed him, all the way up to the spot under his jaw and then to the neck, where the glands were supposed to be. Except there wasn’t anything. She even licked it, forced her tongue in circular motions to stress and irritate the skin across his neck, knowing that the gland would manifest when the signal of a potential mate or alpha processed in the brain.

She hadn’t taken a whole anatomy extra-class focused on Omegas for nothing.

Yet it didn’t.

She furrowed her brows, deep in thought. She was pretty sure that considering the face and the body, the boy had to be at least twenty years old, so the possibility of him being a _cub_ went out of the window. Plus, it didn’t hurt to double-check, right?

Physical examination was a must if she wanted to form a preliminary and well-done diagnosis. Keeping that in mind, she refocused her attention on the boy’s mouth and gently opened it, careful to not stressed the boy, who had yet to awake from the herbal nightmare the team had forced him to drink. She trusted her index finger into the wet and warm mouth and started touching and checking for any cavities while examining his gums in the process.

The gums were pink but _too pale_ for her liking.

“You had a hard time out there, baby?” She whispered in sympathy. Who knows what’s horror the omega went through during his time in the wilds? His swollen tongue only confirmed her suspicions, so she wrote _anemia_ in the medical chart. “We’ll fix you up in no time,”

But before she could retract her finger, the boy’s sucked her index finger back into his mouth and kept it there, a subconscious reflex every omega had. It was one usually of the mains signs doctors looked for when they had a suspicious the baby was an omega; as every single one of them had a serious oral fixation ingrained into their brains.

But Natasha was too enthralled to even care.

“Good boy,” She cooed, as her finger was being kept warm. _So thoughtful_, she thought while her inner alpha was gloating on the moment, very pleased, for some free tongue demonstration” But I’ll need my finger back, honey”

She took it out with a “pop” and watch how some drool fell off.

“Cute,” She said while writing. Then her attention went to his soft curly red ginger locks, to check for lice or ticks. There was none, but she did find matted hair in the back. He would_ need a haircut_, _but no lice or tick_. She experimentally tugged one strand, just to see a reaction, but was disappointed to find that the boy didn’t react.

_ No reaction to hair stimulation _.

A shame.

It was five minutes later when she finally got (she was beginning to suspect Lucas had forgotten them and simply left) to his body. The clothes the boy wore were too tight and dirty to be comfortable, and she highly suspected by the threadbare and dingy sweater and pants, it had been his only clothes for quite some time.

Nat tutted disapproval,

“Must feel uncomfortable, uh?” She cut without preamble the fabric. There were some parts that had gotten stuck to his skin, it was highly likely that the poor thing had gotten injured and didn’t bother to take care it, so Nat had to be extra careful to soak them with water (with 0,9% of sodium chloride!) and slowly removing them with some tweezers.

The last thing she wanted to do was cause him pain.

“There you go, honey.” She said when she finally got rid of the ragged clothes. When she finally got a peek of her boy’s body, she had to count to fifty to not let her instincts of _protecting! Claim! Mine! Take care!_ Overwhelm her at the boy’s emaciated figure. Thin and slim waist, torso with ribs and hip bones clearly showing. Her fingers went to the protruding ribcage and counted, went to check if his vertebra showed too. She stalled, considering what would be the next course of action.

_ Underweight, probably a side of starvation. He would need a special diet _ , _possibly hospitalization_.

If the hospital was running in the _before_, the boy would be hospitalized, for a few days to stabilize him. But she knew the post commander would deny him medical attention if it meant using so many of their limited resources on someone who could die in any giving moments.

_ Don’t you even think it, Nat. _

She chewed the pencil, thinking about possibilities.

_ We’re not keeping him _.

“Whoever decides to keep you, shall be informed,” She told him patting his good leg, reassuringly. She would make sure to let whatever Alpha who wanted him to know the consequences of not letting him eat or restricting his calorie intake since it was a popular punishment that many alphas implemented when their omegas acted naughtily. Kip hadn’t been the exception, but Nat had never resorted to using those harsh methods.

Seeing him waddle around the next days or hiss whenever he sat on wooden chairs the next days when everything had been forgiven and the only discussion was on what position Nat wanted Kip next, had always been a great sight to behold.

“We’re going to fatten you up,” She told him, stroking the underside of his good leg reassuringly. The poor boy was so thin that, his body had hidden his mating glands. Probably wasn’t having heats, to preserve his energy. “Before giving you away”

She would still need Lucas to run a blood exam, to ensure everything was coming along. They needed to weight him so they would know his fat percentage and start working from there.

Every omega needed a minimal percentage of fat to trigger heats and everybody knew that heats were necessary, to ensure hormonal balance.

_ God, he’s so skinny. _

She took a step back and closed her eyes. Counted to ten, then added some fifteen more, and gather every ounce of her (_not her, never hers_) will to not take him home. She knew he would have a good recovery there. Cut his hair short and put on a wool beanie, since Kip had left all of those and Nat didn’t have the heart to give them away. The green beanie would go great with his hazel eyes, she realized after doing a brief eye examination. Did he need glasses? She hoped not.

But for now, there was this urgent need to cover him in blankets near the fireplace, since the boy must feel cold. And only if he was a good boy, Nat would make him lick his honey-covered hands as treat, only so she could see that pinky little tongue-

Horror settled a few moments later when she realized what exactly she was thinking. 

“What the fuck,” She said, eyes wide open. _Wait…did she…just licked the patient? _Her heart was beating twenty miles per minute because never in her whole time as a doctor, she’d licked a patient before. During all the time she pushed through med school, they had taught her to control her impulses, because licking?

Licking was reserved for mates and family.

“What the _fuck _what's that.”

Hell, doctors had lost their licenses in the _before the world_ for being surprise licking as it was seen a deep offense to the omega’s integrity. And yet there she was, licking an unconscious omega, with as much enthusiasm a horny teenager alpha had during prom night. Shame filled deep in her core, because what would Kip think if he saw acting her like this?

_ He would understand. _

_ Stop. _

_ He would be happy you’re finally moving on- _

_ STOP! _

She quickly went to wipe whatever saliva remained on the boy’s neck with a sponge. But she knew it would be a fruitless effort since her smell would remain on the boy’s neck. It was why licking was forbidden in the first place. But that didn’t make the heat tugging down her belly stop nor making her limbs feel shaky with anticipation.

“I’m so sorry,” She apologized at the unconscious person. It would take a week minimum for the smell to fade. Hopefully, Lucas would forgive her and not tell the post commander_ (but something deep down told her, the commander wouldn’t give a single shit about it. He had four omegas, after all)._

A low-pitched moaned was the answer, when she removed her hand.

_ Touch starved _

“You seem like a sweet boy, who should be pampered and loved.” She said with a sad smile while stroking his curls.” Whatever alpha chooses you will be one lucky guy”

The boy shifted towards her, to get more pettings and she let him.

_ Yep, some serious case of touch deprivation _

Soon a small purring sound resonated through the room and she felt an inexplicable swell of fondness wash over her.

“God, you’re so cute,” She said, hating herself providing comfort to omega that wasn’t hers. There was no doubt the omega in front of her would be grateful for some food and shelter, but she couldn’t take him in.

"But I can’t let you stay with me."

She had a promise to keep.

"I’m not keeping you"

_ Silence. _

“I’m not keeping you,” She repeated more for herself then the boy who was still too drugged to even care. But honestly? It sounded too weak to her ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nat: I'm an alpha who will not submit to my instincts!  
Also nat: *starts licking the hell out of Max*
> 
> Comments and kudos are really welcomed! (they keep me motivated and going!)  
If you have any suggestion on pet names for omega, I would be deeply grateful! (since I'm not a very creative person). And also I need someone to please, please, pleaseeee take my computer away, because apparently I can't stop w r i t i n g


	7. surprised!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, I'm not dead.

Max woke to the feeling of being touched. Rough, callused hands were inspecting his body. He tried to open his mouth and _bite_, but he soon realized he couldn't move. Soon shock turned into dread when he realized he couldn't get his eyes to open at command either.

His heart began to beat harder. He tried to be calm, but anxiety began to take over to the point where he could barely register the sound of shoes clicking against the floor. Then muffled sounds of someone speaking, and a quiet clink before there was only silence.

It should have calmed him.

But the reality was that his head was spinning, one thought frantically jumping to another. Anything that could help him understand what had happened to end up in this state. How? When? And most importantly _why?_

The memories of the past days hit him.

And he _panicked_.

Because he'd fallen from his bike, hurt his leg and had been captured by a group of survivors who didn't think twice about drugging him and dragged him towards god knows where. _Why,_ was all he could think as footsteps got near him and soon his body was in the arms of a stranger and his head was placed against someone's chest.

_Why?_

His body was lifted and placed against a cold surface. It was cold, too cold. But it was only later when he felt the texture of a tongue licking his neck in circular motions, that he panicked. At first, he thought it was just a product of a nightmare but when the tongue went all the way to the left side of his neck he bristled.

He wanted to bare his teeth at whoever had dared to touch him in such an intimate way, but he couldn’t get his body to comply. But that wasn't what made him afraid. It was when he realized someone had taken the time to cut his clothes, leaving him bare. _That_ was when Max felt for the first time, truly felt scared for his life.

* * *

Nat clasped her hands, placidly relaxed to finally finish her examination. Once she disposed of her gloves into the biomedical waste box, she cleaned her hands and stretched, longing to hear those popping noises from her back.

She energetically stretched, trying to shoo whatever tension she had left and went to clean her hands for the second time. It was one of her doctor's peeves once she was reinstated to work, making her body involuntary tense whenever she had to do a physical examination. It could also be a side effect of being almost bitten by an infected person five years ago, but whatever.

Not that it would help her find a cure.

A quick turn to the side made her realize she'd ended up with a crick on her neck. She groaned, exasperated at her own body. At least the sound of the water splashing against her skin felt wonderful.

Half an hour later, Lucas finally decided to join then after Nat finished the physical exam. He entered the room, with a crumpled paper in his hands and widened eyes. Then he started coughing like there was no tomorrow.

“Are you okay?” She asked, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She removed part of her coat, since somehow in the half an hour of examination, she had gotten warm and was now sweating like there was no tomorrow. _Had it ever been this hot in here?_ She huffed, slowly removing her sweater.

Somewhere Lucas mumbled an apology while his face was a deep shade of scarlet red, before giving her the paper that turned out to be the medical chart. _Uh,_ came to her mind while she glanced back at the omega after she finished reading it.

“You know,” She said while she cleaned her hands, for the second time in a row since one could never be too sure if bacteria were flying around. “I wonder how he survived so long out there.”

_Alone,_ that was one of the things that kept ringing in her head. Sarah previously told her all they found was a backpack filled with some clothes and knick-knacks. They had also found a bike some meters far but judging by the deformed state, it was impossible that the omega could have used it.

“You think he was part of a pack?” She asked, crossing her arms.

“The scouts told me the whole perimeter was clear of smell,” He said shaking his head. From the peripheral of her vision, she could see how Lucas wrinkled his nose when he went near the omega. She winced, but luckily Lucas didn’t mention it.

Nat hummed, bringing her hand up to her chin.

“It’s normal for members to disperse whenever they get near a horde,” She said, her mind trying to come up with an explanation to all of this. But she knew they were just guessing at this point. “Omegas are hardwired to run whenever danger appears. So, it's most likely that his family probably was forced to dispersed and the omega panicked and fell or something,”

“It could be worse, uh?” Lucas joked, but it felt a little too flat for her taste. “I mean they could have brought him bitten or-“

“Well, he has a fracture and his shoulder is deeply bruised-” She told him when she finished drying up her hands. She glanced for the last time the leg that was a mix of purple and black on his skin and winced. Whatever the omega had done to end up like that, must have hurt like hell. “but at least most of the swelling went down.”

“Also, are you okay?”

That made her raised her eyebrows, in confusion.

“I’m perfectly fine,” She said, as she unbuttoned part of her blouse. Yet it still didn’t cool her off. She turned around to face him and asked, “Did they turn off the ventilation?”

“Em, no Nat” Lucas blinked, looking at her as if she had just declared she wanted to fuck the post’s commander mate and shook his head. “The ventilation has been on the entire time, are you ill? Not that I want to be sound rude or anything, but you do smell kind of weird-”

“I’m fine,” She stressed out, rolling her eyes. “You’re probably imagining,”

Whatever Lucas said next went unheard as Nat focused more on the omega, and then the topic on what they were going to do next came again. Sure, they could still perform surgery, but that run its risks that Nat didn’t want to take.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and she looked at Lucas and said.

“What’s the sturdiest cast you’ve got?

* * *

Half an hour later Nat left and walked down the streets, with one goal in mind. Her pace was slow and deliberate, and over her coat was her leather bag filled with some documentation Lucas had gladly provided her. Documentation that was going to be needed once she found the time to inscribe him, which was going to be another headache.

_But for another day_.

When she reached the small signs that said _“FIELDS”,_ she looked around momentarily confused before realizing she’d been headed the wrong way. She groaned since that meant ten more minutes of walking. Nat turned around and continued walking down again with the destination of going west.

Before the outbreak, the compound had been widely known as one of the small-medium military bases around the country.

And over the years since the outbreak, it turned into a semi-functional village; with compartmentalized zones for both the civilian and military sectors, plus one that was used for harvesting and growing crops.

In the center of the base was where all the building that both the civilian and the military could use and have access to such as the storage building, the small school in which Liu worked in, the blacksmith shop, the local market, a library, the registry office, and the medical facilities.

Then next to it on the east side, was the civilian sector, where the military housing used to be. Some houses were too broken to live; either it was barely standing, or it would mean too much effort in fixing it, so everyone had to help to scrape whatever material they could use.

Pain in the ass, if you asked her.

To the north were the fields, used for agriculture and cattle raising. It consisted of four fields and two barns filled with all the animals they managed to capture over the decade. When the post commander and the officials finally decided which sector, they wanted to turn into fields, all the surviving population was forced to demolished so they could use it for planting and harvesting crops.

The west sector was military exclusive; they had their own separate houses and buildings, along with their gear and weaponry and all the other stuff Nat didn’t know much about. The post commander and his family, amongst all the other officials, lived there. Finally, to the south was the main entrance gate and the only place that could lead to the outside, since all the other exits had been blocked and fortified.

So no one could escape.

The place Nat was now working was on a different building from the Hospital. It was a small building, located near the west sector and while the distances weren’t too far, it was still a fifteen-minute work from the hospital to the Maternity ward and twenty-five minutes from her house to the Maternity Ward.

They had to be relocated, mainly because the population had express concerned (more like the Post commander’s family) over the Hospital, saying that pregnant omegas had a hard time taking up the stairs after all the elevators had to be deactivated to save up energy. And if the post commander wanted them to relocate, then they all had to.

She greeted two pairs of officials doing rounds and walked, taking a chance to look at her surroundings. Nat wasn’t the only one there; many betas and alphas were doing errands too probably stocking up before the snow would cover the ground and everyone would be under four layers of clothing. She glanced at the passing a flock of omegas walking together to the market, who were energetically chattering around each other. Probably gossiping about something banal, by the number of giggles emanating from their mouths. Not far from them were two betas trailing behind, probably their turn to chaperone them.

She gave them a smile before continuing her way, deep in thought. Only to frown a few seconds later when the betas shoot her a nasty look.

_Has she forgotten to shower_?

She got stopped two houses later by another pair of officers, who quickly search through her clothes and her belongings. She didn’t offer resistance since it had long stopped bothering her being searched.

“Identification please,” A tall beta with silver, oily hair pulled back and a bony, menacing face. She searched through her pants for the white-worn paper that had the stamp of approval and gave it to the officers. While the man verified its authenticity the other, a brown shoulder-length hair Alpha with gray eyes took her aside and started asking her simple questions about math and logic.

She answered it with ease.

It was of the many strategies implemented by the officers once they realized that one of the first signs of turning into an undead apart from the fever, vomiting, and loss of muscle coordination, was the impaired mind. Usually, the infected would have memory loss, difficulty solving problem or speaking during the first two hours before losing their minds and start attacking.

So yeah, she couldn’t get angry for being randomly picked and questioning, to avoid a possible epidemic.

“Thank you,” She said when the officer gave her documentation back, not before interrogating her about what was she doing here. The only did that sat unwell with her was the reaction the officers had when she replied she was going to work.

_Strange_, she thought but paid no mind. There were more important things to worry about them something so trivial like smell.

* * *

Nat took a deep breath, after she finished another of her patient checkups, to avoid making a scene. Not for the omega, but the _mate_. The dude even had the balls to _growl _at her, when she touched the back of the omega’s neck, checking for any lump.

_What an asshole_

Normally she would waste no problem in giving a piece of her goddamn mind, but that hadn’t been the only one. It had been the third patient’s mate in a row that had bared their teeth at _her_, the _freaking doctor_. Not to mention that on her way to work, people had looked at her funny. Even her secretaries, two betas in their mid-thirties greeted her with a questionable face after she finally arrived at work.

She didn’t answer when one of them (probably Ashley) asked if her if she was alright and focused more on the three appointments she had before filling all her paperwork. One may think that filling paperwork may seem like a nonsensical thing to do.

It was the only way they could regulate their population. Every omega was carefully monitored throughout their whole pregnancy. Since Nat had been transferred, she normally had to take care of the complicated cases.

As the rest of the day went, Nat got progressively distracted. Taking multiple breaks throughout the day, and as if her productivity wasn’t suffering enough, Nat suspected she’d fallen sick. She was warmth and sweating like there was no tomorrow.

The black jacket and oversized sweater had been taken off, leaving her only in her white blouse and her black pants. Yet with every passing moment the urge to take off her pants.

_Not exactly professional, Nat. _

_Keep it together._

She twirled the pencil and glanced at the paperwork and thought. Either she’d fallen ill (most probably theory since it was winter), or someone had raised a heater downstairs, and no one had bothered to inform her. She could ask her secretaries but with the number of looks they were giving to her…. she didn’t want to risk it.

Nat shook her head, eyes back to the gigantic pile of paperwork, begging to be filled. To groan a few seconds later. She was willing to do everything in her power if that meant not filling those boring papers about pregnancy (ew) and giving birth (double ew). Because how many times can you put channel, dilation, and babies together with a report, before it gets borings?

_(the answer is one, my dear friend)_

She stopped writing and looked at the window from her office. After setting up the omega’s bone straight and putting on a cast, she’d gone to the back to her job. But she couldn’t concentrate…and she didn’t know _why_. Every single time she closed her eyes; all she could see was freckles.

Cute looking type freckles.

Freckles, freckles, freckles.

She groaned, wanting to bang her head against the desk. This was not the way she’d envisioned her morning to go, _at all_. In less than a day, she’d gotten a sick omega against her will, and she didn’t know what the right course of action she should take.

_And I still haven’t gotten finished with the paperwork! _

_(but that’s not important anyway)_

She glanced at the clock, one of the few that managed to survive, and sighed. She guessed she could still visit him after work and inquire if there were alphas or betas interested in him. Since the omega was registered under her name, Nat could have free reign over him.

She could trade him for another, sell it, or gift to another alpha or beta, but she first wanted to make sure that they would take care of him. The boy was _adorable and cute_. He had the kind of face that was pleasant to look and what many alphas desired. But he was also sick.

Very sick.

Giving him to an Alpha who only wanted another hole to fuck, would surely kill him.

* * *

She was startled two hours later when her superior stormed through the main door, with such an angry face that made the hair from the back of her neck stand up.

“WOODS!” He barked while slamming the door of her office. _Well someone had woken up from the wrong side of the bed, uh_ She thought to get out of her desk and affronting one of her superiors. His nostrils flared and Nat gulped.

“Sir?”

“I’m on the edge of firing you for your own incompetence, so don’t you even try to test my patience Woods,” He snarled at her, who took a step back. “Why would you think that coming to work was a good idea?!”

_What._

“Because…” She licked her lips, unsure of how to proceed. “It’s my…job…?”

“WRONG ANSWER WOODS,"

"_What-"_

"HALF OF THE BASE CAN SMELL YOU IN RUT,”

“But sir, I don’t have a family or mate- “She protested but halted midway_._ _Oh no_. Her widened and she took a step because she suddenly remembered what she’d done when Lucas had been away. _Oh no, please don’t tell me-_

“Oh no,” Nat whispered because she knew. She knew that _licking was reserved for mates and family_, and because it had been seven years since Kip had died, it was probable that licking the omega had made her body misinterpret the omega as her –

“Oh _no,_” She said, horrified. “What have I _done_,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/1: I absolutely suck at this grammar thing guys. I apologize, I'll try to be more serious about editing from now on. Oops.   
Also, would someone want to beta this story? If so, please let me know! I would really appreciate it :)


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